Nan-shan is the range of mountains south of Tun-hwang, and still preserves its ancient appellation. The Turkish name according to Prejavalski is the Altyn-tagh. The again were not UgroTartars but Kurus. Mr. Parker has been treading on dangerous grounds in his ethnological essays; he should practice creeping before trying to walk, much less to fly.

6. Perhaps Mr. Parker would give some information of Carata and its connexion with Kashgar. I am ignorant on the subject. 7. The Wusuns lived along the upper Jaxartes; the Comedan Mts. formed part of the Pamîr.

17. Surely does not mean to touch. The is probably the Temurto or Issyk-kul, but is certainly not the Aral. Without the original it is impossible to comprehend the paragraph.

18. The equivalent of the Ts'ung-ling is the Kizil-yart range in the Pamîr. Belur tagh is the outcome of a blunder of De Lisle's. See Yule (Jour. R. G. S. xlii. 476).

20. Su-lê is the Sûrâk of the Bundahish, and is properly the valley of the Jaxartes. I believe by the Chinese it is used for Kashgar as stated, but the reason is difficult to explain.

28.

does not mean Western King's Mother; the

characters are simple phonetics.

29. 弱水 does not mean "weak-water; it means dead or decayed water. The inhabitants in Mesopotamia and the neighbouring countries still cross their rivers on inflated skins.

32. The capital of Ta-hia referred to was Darapsa, probably for Darampsa, mentioned by Strabo. Drangiana was a country not a town.

37. Ta-shih is not Tadjik; it is the Persian Ta-zi, i.e. Arabian. See Vambery's Sketches in Central Asia, p. 337.

38, 39, 40. It is impossible to follow these without the original. 46. Why should Shen be pronounced Kwan? Mr. Parker will find in the majority of cases that these glosses of the commentators are utterly untrustworthy. is simply a name for India, in Zend Hapta Hindu, the Vedic Saptasindhava; modern Scinde. Later it was called ; the phonetic values are almost identical.

51. is Sthâneswara, not Yunnan, where elephants are not used as beasts of burden.

55. A does not mean Tartar.

57. Mr. Parker should lay to heart the statement about Turks and Hiung-nû.

60. Ts'ung-ling does not mean Onion range. The first character is phonetic; its value is Dar.

With paragraph 82 Mr. Parker begins some extracts from the Shi-ki in the course of which he introduces many of his old errors with some new ones.

86. The is not to be taken here or elsewhere in the Shiki as the Caspian: it is simply the Western Sea. Szema Ts'ien knew of nothing beyond Parthia. Once he alludes to Aral as the Northern Sea.

87. T'iao-chi is the representative of Persian Zaranj, the Greek Sarangia or Drangiana. Szema Ts'ien and the later writers seem to include with it Kermania and made it extend to the Persian Gulf, here called the .

89. It was the depopulated country of that the Wusuns were invited to occupy.

94. Mr. Parker has here corrected an error in my translation. taken by me to be proper names Kiao-ts'ze and Anjen are used in their natural sense. I trust readers of my paper will correct it accordingly. Mr. Parker is himself in error in the last sentence it should be read "When the Hiung-nû had broken up the Yueh-ti." This event had happened anterior to their move to Bactria, and was the cause of their migration.

95.means something more than "splendid horses." I prefer to leave the word untranslated for reasons mentioned in my paper.

102. Mr. Parker's suggestion is worthy of notice; I cannot however see my way to accept it. My notes give d as the original initial of . The original of the name of

a moot point.

may be considered

men within the walls

In page 47 Mr. Parker speaks of the of Urh-shi whom the king employed to sink wells. I am of opinion that these Sîrs were not Chinese but Syrians, especially as nothing is said of their release by the Chinese general on the surrender of the city. In his note on page 49 he refers to my restoration of the ancient sound of as Sir Greek Sêr in Sêres, Syr in Syria (see Chinese Review, v. 357). As there is little new under the sun, and most original discoveries have occurred to many minds, I was not surprised to learn from Dr. Hirth that the same identification had been suggested by a French Orientalist fifty years ago. I have unfortunately omitted to take note of the passage.

In conclusion I may remark that Chinese students could much advance our knowledge if instead of carping at one another's efforts they should each be prepared to accept the proved conclusions of the others. Every one is liable to errors in such a task, but there is better work to be done than in interminable wrangling.

NOTE-LI-KIEN AND TA-TS'IN.

The following explanation of the use in the Hau Han Shu of the expression Li-kien as another name for or Syria suggests itself as the true solution of the mystery.

In the Shi-ki the phrase Li-kîen or Li-ken is distinctly applied to Samarkand lying north of Parthia and north-west of K'ang-kü or Kashgar, where the character is clearly denoted as representing the sound AR.

Applying the information thus obtained to the other we may transliterate as Arkîen, and this is simply the nearest phonetic rendering of Greek 'Apxelov, the "Government."

The "Magistracy," or "Government," was probably the short colloquial expression for ʼn Σvpiκà àpyn as the Italians called Liguria, the "Provincia" (Province), and we at the moment denominate the British provinces in North America simply the "Dominion."

It is, of course, possible, as the word came to China through Parthian sources that like Stamboul with the Turks for ¿ɩ5 tǹv Tódi, Arkîen stood for (ees Tv) 'Apxýv, but I think the identification with the form "Apxelov, above, preferable.

AS

ON THE SQUARE BAMBOO.*

BY D. J. MACGOWAN, M.D.

S I am not a botanist this communication will be found to lack technical value; but that is of little moment, as the scientific description of this anomalous variety of bamboo devolves on Sir Joseph Hooker himself.

Its geographical range is from 25° to 30° N., litoral, and Westward further than I have been able to discover. Unlike other varieties of the bamboo at this place, its shoots are developed in Autumn, not in Spring. They sprout in September, or October, and grow until arrested by December's cold. In the Spring following, their growth recommences when the grass attains its full height— ten to fifteen feet. The lower portion of the culms bristles with short spines; in the second or third year their squareness is far less striking than when matured by several years' growth; that quality is sometimes so marked that a native botanist describes them as

Written in reply to a request of Sir Joseph Hooker, Superintendent of Kew Gardens, made through Earl Granville, Sir Harry Parkes and Consul E. H. Parker. Sir Joseph Hooker had seen a note in the North-China Herald by Dr. Macgowan on the square bamboo of Wenchow, and desired corroborative information on the anomaly from China.

appearing like rods pared by cutting instruments. I have seldom found the corners more sharply defined than in the largest of the specimens herewith transmitted.

It is cultivated chiefly for an ornament in gardens, and in temple courts; the longer stems (sometimes an inch and a half through) are used for staves, the smaller and less squarish, for stems of opium pipes, and the smaller and less mature for tobacco pipes.*

Its anomalousness is attributed by the Chinese to supernatural powers, occult agencies varying with each district. The Ningpo Gazetteer tells how Ko Hung, the most famous (fourth century A.D.) thrust his chopsticks (slender bamboo rods, pared square) into the ground at Spiritual Peak monastery, near that city, which by thaumaturgical art he caused to take root and to appear as a new variety of bamboo square.

Specimens have been placed in Wardian cases and as soon as their viability is assured they shall be transmitted to Kew Gardens through Consul Parker.†

With the prepared specimen of square bamboo for the museum I send also specimens of the bearded bamboo, as they illustrate an art peculiar to Wenchow which is capable of being imitated in the tropical and sub-tropical regions of India. This bamboo is called "bearded," or "hairy" because of the appearance presented on the surface of the husks of the shoots (it is the shoots of this plant that supply our tables with one of our most prized esculents). The matured, are cut in sections of about half a foot, and then slit and boiled for two hours in water; before the boiling is half completed some lime is added, that alkali rendering the material less liable to attacks of insects. Boiling renders the cilinders flexible; they are then flattened and subjected to pressure until they become absolutely dry, which takes about ten days. When properly dried they retain their sheet-like form; the silicious surface is pared off and also the inner surface, until the latter presents a white appearance, when the sheets are ready for carving or perforating, and are useful for inlaid work. Elegant scrolls are made by glueing on delicate bamboo fret-work representing scenery or giving poetic complimentary verses, after the manner of paper scrolls. Specimens being sent of this curious work, further description is unnecessary.

Attached to one of the specimens of pipes that I send for the Museum is a tobacco pouch containing (1) a sample of Wenchow tobacco and (2) one of the shredded leaves imported from Ningpo;-the bag itself is made of coarse Wenchow stick; the paper enclosing the tobacco is made from the hairy bamboo, finer specimens of which I also enclose, and also a piece of very coarse paper made of the shoot shells.

+ Mr. Parker forwarded the plants immediately.

THE ENGLISH PRESBYTERIAN MISSION, SWATOW, FOR 1884.

BY REV. H. W. MACKENZIE.

At our Central Station, Swatow, we have the following:(1) The Theological College, with 18 students and Resident Tutor; (2) The Middle (Boys' Boarding) School, with 20 Boys and 2 Pupil Teachers; (3) The Girls' Boarding School, with 25 Girls, Matron, and Teacher; (4) The Bible-Women's House, with 9 Women and Resident Teacher.

Our Out-stations number 22, of which 4 are, for the most part, under the charge of a Chinese Pastor, who is wholly supported by the congregations to whom he ministers. The number of Preachers available for conducting the Sabbath services at these Stations is only 10. Some of these men have charge of two Stations, and at some of the more unimportant ones the work is very much left to the chapel keepers, who are fairly intelligent Christians, and to regular weekly visits from some of our students. During the year, 59 visits have been paid by the foreign missionaries. At some of the Out-stations there is no progress whatever; there has rather been decay and failure. At most of them there have been some converts gathered in, and at several there is still a considerable number of applicants for baptism. The number of our Station schools is 9, with 81 pupils. These are all taught by Christian teachers who have had more or less training in the Middle School, or College, at Swatow. The more promising boys in these country schools will, we hope, enter the Middle School, with a view to their subsequent training in the college for becoming teachers and preachers. The nearest of our stations is about 9 miles from Swatow, the most distant about 120, i.e., five or six days' journey.

On the 31st December, 1884, the total number of members in full communion was 791, and the total membership of adults and children (including members under suspension) was 1,104. Nine of the congregations have been organized as churches, and we find that the Elders and Deacons are on the whole decidedly helpful in caring for the Church-members, some of them manifesting a watchful and zealous spirit in this important work.

The ordinary meetings of the Swatow Presbytery are held twice a year, in May and October. Since this Presbytery was formed in 1880, we have found the Chinese office-bearers taking an increasing interest in Church affairs, and its work has considerably helped both to create and foster a feeling of unity among the several congregations, and to stir up the Christians to their duties in regard to various matters of importance. It is important to note that the